
Book £L <?_£__ 




^l]ST 



EXGHANGEOF VIEWS 



ON 






BY 



TWO HONEST REPUBLICANS. 



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Copyright, 1884, by John J. D. Trenor. 



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H. A. Rost, Printer, 3 «fc 5 North William St., New York. 



A. I have been a Republican all my life, and want to stand by the 
party. 

B. So have I, and I want to stand by the party too. But we have 
opposite views of what is for the benefit of the Republican party at the 
present time. You imagine that support of Mr. Blaine will help it : I, 
and those who think with me, hold support of him to be a step towards 
its destruction. 

A. When I think of its past and what it has done, its attitude on 
slavery, honest money, etc., I cannot bring myself to vote against its 
representative. 

B. The great issues which called the Republican Party into life 
have been decided. Their rightful decision is the party's glory. But 
they are issues no longer. Parties are, after all, but aggregates of 
individual men, and, like individuals, are liable to be corrupted by the 
long possession of power and the command of a great country's re- 
sources. A party is not entitled to claim immunity for present cor- 
ruption by pointing to its past purity. Besides, I deny that Mr. Blaine 
represents in any direction, or in any sense, the principles which bound 
you and me to the Republican party in the past. 

A. Of course I admit there has been a great decline from the high 
moral standard of its earlier days ; but is it not possible to i-e-elevate it 
without the heroic measure of defeating Mr. Blaine ? 

B. That gentleman represents, as you well know, the worst elements 
and most questionable methods of the party. Look at those whom his 
nomination has, for the time being, driven out of it. Compare them 
with those who to-day surround Mr. Blaine and manage his canvass. 
If there was hope of reforming the party from within, under such a 
president as Mr. Blaine, do you believe so tremendous a defection would 
have taken place as has enlisted tens of thousands of the truest and 
staunchest Republicans in the land in an endeavor to defeat Mr. Blaine ! 
What chance of nomination or election do you honestly believe he would 
to-day stand at the hands of the men who founded and led the Re- 
publican party a quarter of a century ago ? 

A. I must allow that his chances would be slender. But I hear all 
my friends say that he is no worse than the majority of our public men. 

B. If by the latter you mean the "machine" politicians, who, by 
every art and device known to unscrupulous men, have obtained as- 
cendency in the Republican party, that may be true. These being ex- 
cepted, I must deny your proposition absolutely. What would have 
been easier than for the honest Republicans who look with dread upon 
the possibility of his election to have secured their share of the "spoils" 
by supporting him? No, the attitude of these latter is the protest of 
outraged conscience at the idea of committing the administration of the 
country to Mr. Blaine and the men into whose hands the management 
of the Republican party has drifted. 



A. I must confess my position is one of great perplexity. The 
letters which Mr. Blaine admits having , written to Fisher, Caldwell 
and Sanborn are, to my mind, clear evidence of Ins use of a most im- 
portant and powerful official position for private gain, but I think I can 
still consistently vote for him •'under protest." 

//. My good friend, I have heard a great deal of talk about this 
voting "under protest." To me it is the hollo west kind of self-cheating 

and sophistry. How do you protest? By giving the man the Only 
thins he cares for, your vote. To whom do you protest? To yourself. 
With what effect? Not an atom. The ballot box will not record any 
such protest. The only protest which it will record is an adverse vote. 
"Why. if Mr. Blaine should secure a twenty thousand majority in New- 
York of just such votes "under protest," he would point to them as a 
triumphant vindication of his whole career. You talk about a "protest" 
and yet, in recording your vote for Mr. Blaine, you make your public 
approbation of his career just as emphatic as if he were the most un- 
sullied character in the land. However much you might try you could 
record your admiration in no higher way. The idea is a preposterous 
one. The only way to protest is to vote againct the man whose public, 
official life has driven your conscience to protest against him. Perhaps 
you would allow me, in order to throw 7 more light on the question, to 
ask you what those features are in Mr. Blaine's public life which drive 
your "conscience" to protest against your " vote?" 

A. Mainly, of, course, the evidence that Mr. Blaine, while Speaker 
of the House of Representatives — a position of extraordinary power 
and influence, and one easily used for private ends— did, at least, accept 
great rewards for having done "favors" to railroad speculators, in his 
capacity as Speaker. Then, his offer to secure a Bank charter for these 
same speculators, through favoritism. But, perhaps, more than any- 
thing else, the terrible intentness with which he pursued the private 
advantages he had in view, and his solemn asseveration that he had 
never accepted such rewards or favors, and that the bonds of the Little 
Rock and Fort Smith R. R. had come to him solely by purchase at the 
same rates as thej r were sold in the open market. His correspondence, 
unfortunately, proves this to be an utter mis-statemeut. 

/!. Have you ever put together the real skeleton of that corres- 
pondence? 

A. I can't say that I have. 

B. Let me show you some of the bare bones of it. 
To Fisher. 

June 29, '69. Your offer to admit me (Speaker of the House) to a 
participation in the new railroad enterprise is in every respect 
as f/encrous as I could expect or desire. I do not feel that I 
shall prove a deadhead in the enterprise if I once embark in it. 
I see various channels in which I know I can be useful, 



5 

July 2, '69. Your liberal mode of dealing with me in all our business 
transactions of tbe pa's! eight years Las not passed without my 
full appreciation. 

Oct. 4, '69. If the Arkansas men . . . had not happened to come 
to me when at their wits' end and in despair, the bill would 
undoubtedly have been lost, or at least postponed for a year. 

Roots and other members for Arkansas . . . were in 
despair . . . and if the Arkansas bill had gone back to 
the Senate with Julian's amendment, the whole thing would 
have pone on the table and slept the sleep of death. 

In this dilemma Roots came to me. ... I told him 
Julians amendment was entirely out of order. . . . He 
had not sufficient confidence in his knowledge of the rules to 
make the point. ... I sent my page to General Logan 
with the suggestion, and he at once made the point. . . . 
I could not do otherwise than sustain it. ... At that 
time I had never seen Mr. Caldwell, but you can tell him that, 
without knowing it, I did him a great favor. 

I enclose you a part of the Congressional Globe of April 9, 
containing the point to which I referred at some length in my 
previous letters of to-day. You will find it of interest to read 
it over and see what a narrow escape your bill made on that 
last night of the session. 

I beg you to understand that I thoroughly appreciate the 
courtesy with which you have treated me in this railroad mat- 
ter, but your conduct towards me in business matters has al- 
ways been marked by unbounded liberality, and, of course, I 
have naturally come to expect the same from you now. You 
urge me to make as much as I fairly can out of the arrange- 
ment into which we have entered. It is natural I should do 
my utmost to this end. 

Oct. 4, '69. No one Avill ever know from me that I have disposed of a 
single dollar in Maine. 

Nov. 18, '69. It will be to some extent a matter of favoritism as to 
who trets the banks in the several localities (in Arkansas) and 
it will be in my power to cast an Anchor to the Windward in 
y'r behalf if you desire it. They are very profitable 

institutions. 

Dec. 7, '69. Sec'y of War will not allow the use of the Arsenal at 
Little Rock (for a bank) — says it is impossible. 

Jan. 20, '71. Ithinhyou will not deem mi unreasonable when T again and 
persistently urge that I ought tohavt good notes for the $25,000, 
and that I ought also to havt tht $82,000 bonds which were made 

by yourself and Mr. Caldwell the express basis of the $25 ,000 
loan. I do not believe y'r company has a stronger, or more 



6 

equitable and legal clan,, thorn mine—ivhilc its personal hard- 
aeee *"* *''* ^^ "'"' / ""'"'" f/ ' aml hl »™l™ting to the last 

Ap. 25, 71. Dear Fisher : I inclose letter from Blaine. I forgot 
to speak to you about them when I saw you this P M I hope 
you can help h,m. I W ould if it were in mv power Blame 
u an important man for us to have feel oil right toward us, and 
J only wish that I was so situated that I could help him. Yours 
very truly, r 

J. CALDWELL. 

June 14, 71. I trust in consideration of our many years of friendship 
as well as m new of the peculiar relations I have held in thin 
matter, you will make an effort to do this. 

Ocb. 4, 7L To Fisher. I have your positive written contract to deliver 
me$l 2o 000 land bonds and $32,500 first mortgage bonds 

JSow, I make this offer : Pay me the cash dice on the borrowed 
money account; call it $19,000 in round numbers, and $40 000 
land bonds, and we will call it square. 

Nov. 3, 71. It is very important to me that I have some bonds next 
week. If you don't accept the proposition I have made sup- 
pose you consider this : Let me retain the land bond, now in 
Possession as- satisfaction for loaned money, and you pay me the 
*70,0Q0 land bonds and $32,000 1st mortgage due to me under 
the contract. 

Nov. 10 71. I know but little of your obligations to deliver bonds 
to others; but taking into account the $100,000 bonds you 
sold to lorn Scott and the amount of money you received on 
the Lastern contracts, our relative positions financially in the 
little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad bear a wide contrast. 

Fisher to Blaine. 

Ap. 12, 72. Your favor of the 13th inst, reached me this morning I am 
surprised at its eontents. I hare loaned you at varum times 
v ''"! 1 •''""' "'"'' comparatively poor, very largt sums of money, 
"!""""[ have you paid me one dollar fro], your own pocket, 
eUher principal or interest. I hare paid sundry amounts to 
others to zchom you were indebted, ami these debts you have 
allowed to gtand unpaid like the notes which I hold I hare 
plan,/ y^ m po8 ition» whertby mm hare received r< r», h,rqe 
sums of money without ont dollar of expense to you, and you 

OUgM not to forget the art on my part. Qv ALL THE PARTIES 
CONNECTED WITH THE LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH 
RAIKOAD NO ONE HAS REEN SO FORTUNATE AS YOURSELF 

in obtaining MONEY OUT OF IT. You obtained subscrip- 
tions from your friends in Maine for the building of the Little 
Rock and I ort Smith Railroad. Out of their subscriptions you 



t°o bt vou ed Vf'^ am ° Unt ' b ° th ° f bond8 and ^ney, free of cost 

investment a^per ^emetf llr ° ad ' and ^° U "« mak * *« 
Blaine to Fisher Fisher to Blaine. 

trustworthy as an/'nl'VaV „ '>&« Sft&2?S jf <" 

written in season for the 9 o'clock m«il J!iS?i v g 5 , Ie,tera 

w ;; ,„, aELMc'&i stacks 

[Burn this letter.] J - G - B. 

BliLe^c„VelT„dt e ceTi, e h J W tap0Si ^ , l 0f . the8e •*"««• *«■ Mr. 
whether or This offija tt,!' f^^^ d / Cisive of tbe « u «»tion 
pin. Yet, he sokmnlTS eS °n thTAo^e of"^"''^ 8 " ° f •"*?'• 

such hands. Does the ]efn»n? „T„ E 8 tb : e ailn ™'8tration in 



followers represent the precise opposite of all these. What warrant 
have you for assuming that toy administration will be cleaner or more 
honest than its bead .' Your duty and mine as voters is to do our ut- 
most to secure honesty in the government; certainly not to give an in- 
definite lease of tlie administration to corruption, by putting at the head 
of affairs a self-acknowledged jobber in official position, and by trusting 
to his return to clean methods precisely at the time when your vote 
would have helped to give him and his henchmen the fullest possible 
scope for the exercise of the jobbery and corruption in which then- 
whole political lives have been steeped. 

A. But, my good friend, can I, on the other hand, incur the risk of 
putting the administration in the hands of the Democratic party by 
voting for Governor Cleveland. 

B. The best men in the Republican party are not bad guides to 
follow in this matter. They are of opinion that truth, honesty and 
clean government are more important than mere party. They support 
Governor Cleveland because he has shown that he looks upon public 
office as a public trust and has consi>tently and fearlessly lived up to 
this conviction. He has shown himself clear-headed, calm, equal to 
every situation, the determined foe of all jobbery. For these reasons 
the best Republicans feel no hesitation in voting to make him president. 
The jobbers and lobbyists, the speculators and " machine" politicians. 
even of his own party, hate and fear him. There can be no stronger 
reason to draw every honest man to his support. 

A. Am I to infer that you wish to see the affairs of the Country in 
the hands of the Democrats ? 

B. I am anxious only to see Governor Cleveland made the Chief 
Executive of the Country. His course as Governor of New York is the 
best possible guarantee that he will not act as a partisan. The senate 
is safelv Republican for the next three years. Vote by all means for 
clean Republican candidates for Congress, as I shall do, thus supporting 
the Party where it deserves our support ; but for the sake of the 
Country's future and good name, I trust you will record your detestation 
of jobbery, corruptiou and lying by voting for Cleveland for president. 

A. But, as a compromise, do you not think I might consistently 
vote the Prohibition ticket, or even vote for General Butler .' 

B. However sound Gov. St. John's views may be, a vote cast for 
him is practically thrown away in this contest. We are engaged in a 
fight for clean government, and that question is the most pressing and 
imperative before the country. Prohibition can wait for a season. The 
other issue can not. Every patriotic citizen should place his vote where 
it will be effectual in securing a return to clean, honest government, 
and let the future take care of the rest, as it undoubtedly will. General 
Butler's canvass 1 look upon as in Mr. Blaine's interest, which is a 
sufficient answer as to the propriety of voting for him. 



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